A Hong Kong daily yesterday carried an advertisement claiming to be seeking an investor partner for what it said was a “famous” English football club “with a rich history”.

The club was not named and there was no immediate response to a query sent by AFP to an email address provided on the low-key advert, which appeared in the news section of the English-language newspaper South China Morning Post.

The advert said the club was a founder member of the Premier League, boasted a “top-class stadium” and was looking to get back in the Premier League “in the next few years”.

Birmingham City is a former Premier League club owned by Carson Yeung, who faces money-laundering charges in Hong Kong. However, Birmingham City, which is currently playing in the second-tier English football league, was not one of the founder members of the Premier League.